Donald Trump continues to profit from the presidency as new filings show that his properties received a whopping $1.5 million from the Republican National Committee during this election cycle.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, “During the 2018 election cycle, the RNC has spent nearly $1.5 million at Trump-owned properties, including Trump’s hotels in New York and Washington, D.C. and his golf resorts in Florida.”
More from the report:
Most of the money comes from a handful of large expenditures that correspond with RNC events, the biggest being a $367,365 payment to Trump National Doral Golf Club in June — related to the RNC’s 2018 Spring Meeting at the resort.
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In March, the RNC spent more than $224,000 at Mar-a-Lago, where it hosted a Trump 2020 fundraiser. In September, the RNC made just one $59 payment to a Trump property, according to recent Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.
RNC officials say Trump properties are easy to work with and offer rates that fall in line with FEC requirements that committees pay for services at market-rate prices. Critics of the expenditures say the President has not fully divested his hotels and resorts — now run by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric — potentially creating a pay-for-play scenario.
Trump has repeatedly used his position for personal profit
The news that Trump-owned properties have taken in over $1.5 million from RNC political events this year is not all that surprising to anybody that’s been paying attention over the past two years.
According to The Guardian, citing a non-profit report, “Trump’s businesses have raked in $15.1m from political groups and federal agencies in ‘pattern of personal self-enrichment’†during his presidency.
As I noted just last week, Trump was also caught red-handed intervening and stopping the FBI from moving its headquarters, all so his Washington D.C. hotel wouldn’t face new competition.
Over and over again, the same president who promised to drain the swamp has used his position to enrich himself at our expense. It would be a crippling scandal for any other president; for Trump, it’s just another day in the White House.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
